Shoe heel



June 26, 1934. .1. GIANNINI El AL SHOE HEEL Filed Aug. 28, 1933INVENTORS' fo/m fizannz zz /iriuro fie Frisco I ATTorNEY Patented June26, 1934 SHOE HEEL John Giannini and Arturo De Prisco, Brooklyn,

Application August 28, 1933, Serial No. 687,050

5 Claims.

This invention relates to shoe-heels, and while the same will bedescribed in connection with a use thereof on ladies shoe-heels andillustrated in connection with a ladys shoe-heel of a certain type, theinvention can, of course, be applied to any shoe-heel, whatever be thesex and age of the wearer.

The invention aims to provide a novel and valuable attachable anddetachable unit for use on a shoe-heel bottom, which includes awear-lift and above the latter a structure presenting a carrier for saidlift and at the same time a complete means for securing the entiredevice on the shoe-heel.

In the above connection, it is an important object to provide anattachable and detachable bottom assemblage for a shoe-heel, and oneparticularly valuable for a ladys shoe-heel of the type including ablock of wood, metal, composition or other material, which is mountableon and demountable from a shoe-heel while avoiding any special shapingof the bottom face of the latter as well also as any special attachmentor attachments to any part of the shoe-heel.

In the same connection, it is an important object of the invention toprovide an attachable and detachable bottom assemblage for a shoeheel,and one highly desirable for a ladys shoeheel, wherein there is adependable carrier for a permanently attached wear-lift, and suchcarrier has thereon a complete means for securing the entire assemblageon a shoe heel and then to have the exposed elements of such securingmeans contribute one or more distinctly decorative components to theshoe-heel as a whole.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved attachable anddetachable unit or device for a shoe-heel bottom which is simple andinexpensive in construction although including a wear-lift and above thelatter a structure presenting a permanent carrier for said lift and alsoa practicable means for dependably securing the entire device on a shoeheel bottom.

Still another object is to provide a novel and improved unit as lastdescribed, which, although incapable of being accidentally detached fromthe shoe-heel, is nevertheless readily deliberately attachable theretoand detachable therefrom.

A further object is to provide such a device or unit-to be discarded "asa whole when the lift forming a permanent part thereof as becomeoutworn, so that another similar device or unit can be substituted onthe shoe-heel botto1nwhich is quickly and easily attachable to anddetachable from the shoe-heel without the necessity of having to employany special tool or a nailing or nail-removing operation or the like.

The above stated and various other objects and advantages of the presentinvention will be fully appreciated, and the invention itself moreclearly understood, from the following description of an embodimentthereof as now preferred and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing,in which Fig. l is a view showing a ladys shoe-heel with said embodimentsecured thereto, the heel being shown in side elevation and theattachable device of the present invention being shown in verticalcentral longitudinal section;

Fig. 2 is a view looking toward the left in Fig. 1, showing said heeland device in front elevation;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation; and

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of said device, removed from the heel, andwith its parts disposed for rendering the device attachable to anddetachable from the heel.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views of the draw- Referring to such drawing in detail, the newshoe-heel unit as shown includes a carrier 10 of a flexible metal suchas soft brass or aluminum or other suitable material; which carrier isnow preferred to be made of such a resilient sheet metal as steel,spring brass or the like. This carrier is cup-shaped, for receiving thelower end of the shoe-heel, and it has permanently secured to and belowthe same, as by rivets 11, a wear-lift 12 of rubber, leather or othersuitable material.

A shoe-heel of a type to which said unit is advantageously applied isillustrated at 14.; such heel being rotund at its back and sideportions, up to a forward breast portion 14a running up the heel andacross the shoe, all as is familiar in the art. As here shown, said heelis downwardly outwardly flared around the same in the lowermost partthereof marginal to its bottom face. A ladys shoe heel is often a Woodenblock, and for purposes of convenience only, and not in any sense by Wayof limitation, the heel 14 Will hereinafter be referred to as the heelblock.

The carrier 10 includes a flat bottom wall, through suitable aperturesin which wall are sent as illustrated securing rivets 11 for the lift12; such rivets as here shown having their upper heads countersunk insaid wall so as not to make uneven the upper surface of the same. Also,as shown, this fiat bottom wall of the cup is shaped all around to matchthe outline of the bottom face of the heel block 14; and the cup isprovided with an integral upstanding wall all around the same dividedinto a breast wall 10a which here is shown as uninterruptedly continuousacross the breast of the heel block, and a curved wall which isvertically slit or slotted at intervals to provide shown a plurality ofupstanding prongs or fingers 102) having their upper ends curled over asillustrated, not only to form a decorative line of beads around therotundity of the back and side portions of the heel block, but also toprovide horizontal bores extending longitudinally of said beads throughwhich a fiexible element may run for longitudinal movement of saidelement relative to said beads.

Said flexible element is here shown as a fairly fine metal wire 15,strong yet flexible, of brass, steel or the like; this wire beingpreferably a corn tinuous or closed loop including beyond the beads astraight stretch running over and just forward of the breast wall 10a ofthe cup 10, and desirably made continuous by soldering, brazing orwelding the meeting ends thereof at a suitable point around thegenerally D-shaped formation thereof, say at a point at the back of theheel before the beads at the tops of the fingers 101) are curled overthe curved stretch of the wire.

Before the wire is thus closed into a continuous D-shaped loop, there isswingably mounted on the straight stretch thereof aforesaid a horizontalsleeve 16a forming part of a fitment 16 also ineluding a leaf 16bintegral with said sleeve and laterally offset therefrom. This fitmentis desirably of brass, steel or some other suitable metal, and, with dueregard to their operative functions, the sleeve 16a and the leaf 161)are preferably shaped to add to the general decorative effect of thedevice when attached to andlockedon theheel block 14 as shown in Figs. 1and 3. For instance, the sleeve 16a is shown here as laterally roundedat the portion thereof exposed at the front or breast of the heel whenthe leaf is uppermost as in Figs. 1 and 3, and the leaf is cut away atits central portion to present an open frame; while the said exposedportion of the sleeve and said frame can be chased or die-cut orotherwise given various decorative elaborations as desired, as may thebeads at the tops of the fingers 10b and other exposed parts of thecarrier 10.

As to the operative coactions between the carrier 10, the wire 15 andthe fitment 16, provisions are made whereby when the fitment is arrangedon the wire so that the leaf 16b extends horizontally as shown in Fig.4, the device is instantaneouely attachable to and removable from thebottom of the heel block 14, despite the downwardly outwardly flaredbottom portion of the heel block, and when the fitment 16 is arranged asin Figs. 1 and 3 as the result of swinging thev same throughapproximately 90 degrees upwardly and inwardly toward and against thebreast 14a of the heel block 14, the device is securely clamped andlocked on the heel block by the aid of said flared bottom portion of theheel block. These provisions are the following:

As seen best in Fig. 1, the fitment 16 is so shaped along its sleeve 16athat the latter constitutes a cam or swinging wedge; that is, when thefitment is arranged as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to clamp and lock thedevice on the heel block incident to or rather as the result ofarranging the leaf 16b upstandingly against the breast of the heelblock, a portion 160 of said sleeve, now between the straight frontstretch of the wire 15 and the breast wall 10a of the carrier 10, and ofgreater thickness than the portion of the sleeve now below said stretchof the wire, has been forced into locking position between said wire andwall 100, so to draw the curved portion or stretch of the wire at therear and sides of the heel toward the front of the latter, thereby topull on the fingers 10b spread as in Fig. 4 and gather them together asbest shown in Fig. 3 to take up the previously existing spacingstherebetween. The metal or other material of which the carrier 1D isformed can be merely flexible, to allow the fingers 10b to be separatedor spaced as in Fig. i by outwardly bending the same before applying thedevice to the heel block 14; but it is preferred to stamp or press orotherwise suitably form the carrier 10 from a sheet of some resilientlyflexible metal, and then to bias the fingers 12b for normal dispositionas shown in Fig. 4. In either case, the design of the parts is such thatwhen the fingers 121; are spaced as in Fig. 4, with or without anupwardly outward bending of the breast wall 10a, the top opening of thecup established by the carrier is of the same size and outline as thebottom face of the heel block. Finally, the curved stretch of the wire15 which passes through the beads at the tops of the fingers 12b is ofsufficient length to allow of such an opening of the top of the cup bydiverging the fingers 12b as shown in Fig. 4.

It will be noted that the device above described is locked to the heelblock 14 by the aid of the bottom downward outward flare thereof, withthe result that accidental disengagement of the device from the heelblock is impossible. When, however, the lift 12 of said device hasbecome so much worn as to require discarding of the device and thesubstitution of another carrying a new lift, it is only necessary toswing the leaf 16b away from the heel breast 14a and then downwardly toa horizontal position as shown in Fig. 4; whereupon the device will openup as shown in Fig. i for easy and instantaneous removal. Thereplacement device, while in the condition last described, is just aseasily and quickly placed on the bottom of the shoe heel block, and thenlooked and clenched thereon by swinging its leaf 16b to the positionshown in Figs. 1 and 2. These operations can all be performed even bythe wearer of the shoe; and without the use of any special tool.Moreover, the heel block i l can be an ordinary standard one; withoutany special bottom or other attachment or attachments. There is nonecessity for any nailing or nail removing operation at any time. Thereis finally no possibility of marring or otherwise injuring the bottomportion of even a wooden heel block. The new device can be made in largequantities at nominal expense, and therefore can sell at an economicalprice. With the carrier 10 of metal, the engagement of such metal withthe pavement at the rear or a side of the heel bottom acts as atell-tale to advise that the wear-lift has become worn to a point whereanother one should be substituted. Very importantly, especially forladies shoe heels, the wear-lift carrying device of the presentinvention, when mounted on a heel block as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, ishighly ornamental; the curved line of beads at the tops of the fingers102) being apparently a continuous and unbroken decorative band elementresembling a closely-strung necklace around the shoe heel at a pleasingheight thereon, and apparently secured in place by a decorative buckle,in the front, the fitment 16 giving this buckle effect.

The hereinabove described construction admits of considerablemodifications without departing from the invention; therefore, we do notwish to be limited to the precise arrangements herein shown anddescribed, which are, as aforesaid, by way of illustration merely. Thescope of protection contemplated is to be taken solely from the appendedclaims, interpreted as broadly as is consistent with the prior art.

We claim:

1. A detachable device for attachment to a heel block having adownwardly outwardly flared bottom portion, including, in combination, awear lift, a carrier to the bottom of which said lift is permanentlysecured, and means on the carrier for mounting the latter on the heelblock, said means including an upstanding element at the breast of theheel and a plurality of upstanding fingers arranged along a curved linefollowing the rear and sides of the heel, said fingers being bendableoutwardly to diverge them relative to one another, a wire running aroundthe carrier and in front of said element and engaging said fingers neartheir tops and of a length to allow said fingers to be diverged asaforesaid, and a device including a cam rockable on said wire in frontof said element to pull on said wire to redispose said fingers to drawthem together.

2. The device defined in claim 1, wherein all of said fingers and saidelement are integral with a fiat plate constituting said carrier bottomand all the said fingers have aligned bores near their tops throughwhich said wire runs, said wire being a closed loop.

3. A detachable device for attachment to a heel block having adownwardly outwardly flared bottom portion, including, in combination, awear lift, a generally cup-shaped carrier for said lift, said lift beingpermanently secured to the bottom of said carrier, said carrier havingan upstanding wall following the outline of the bottom face of the heelblock and said wall in its portion following the rear and side roundingsof the heel being formed as a plurality of separate upstanding fingershaving horizontal bores at their tops, said fingers being resilientlybiassed to diverge and thereby suffieiently open the top of the cup topermit the latter to be mounted on the heel block with the bottom of thecup against the bottom of said block, a flexible element running allaround said wall and through said bores, and means for readjusting saidflexible element to draw said fingers together and thereby lock thedevice on the heel block, said means including a stretch of saidflexible element extending across the breast of the heel-block, a camrotatable on said stretch, and a finger-piece for rotating the cam.

4. The device defined in claim 3, wherein said flexible element is aclosed wire loop and said bores are provided by curling down the upperends of said fingers.

5. The device defined in claim 3, wherein said cam and said finger-pieceare parts of a single unitary fitment, said fitment also including astraight sleeve substantially as long as the width of the heel breast,said sleeve carrying said cam and having said straight stretch of theflexible element extending therethrough, said finger-piece being a leafoifset from the sleeve and so positioned thereon relative to said camthat when the device is locked on the heel block said leaf extends abovethe sleeve and against the breast of the heel block.

JOHN GIANNINI. ARTURO DE PRISCO.

